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The 2016 CrossFit Games Open has come to an end, and this year may have been my favorite Open just slightly after 2013.

2013 holds a very special place in my heart because it was my first Open, and I did it with my best friend, Kelli. I was also secretly hoping for a repeat of 13.1 with Snatches and Burpees this year not because it was my favorite workout, but it is one of my most memorable due to the fact that I had to do it twice that year because the first time I did it, it was invalid due to my miscalculation of weight on the bar.

I have written about 16.1,2, and 3 and 16.4 in my opinion was my least favorite workout because I dislike deadlifts for time, so I am just going to skip over that week. Sorry for you people who wanted a recap of that one- just not going to happen.

16.5 was a repeat. A repeat workout from 2014 (14.5) which included Thursters and Burpees over the bar. When this workout was announced I threw up in my mouth a little bit. Burpees.. again? Wtf. But I had a baseline of what I needed to get and for the first time this year I went into the workout with a strategic game plan. In 2014 I completed this workout of 21-18-15-12-9-6-3 Thurster/Burpee combo in 19:29 with a leaderboard placement of 1,563rd place. On New Years of this year this workout was the WOD and I completed the exact same workout in 17:26 after a night of drinking That is 2:03 faster than two years prior and so for 16.5 I had a goal of getting 17 minutes or faster in order to PR. I had a game plan of splitting up my thrusters in 11/10, 10/8, 6/5/4, 6/6, 9, 6, 3. I stuck to the game plan almost 100% but on my set of 12 I did 7/5 instead. I have never in my life actually stuck to a thruster game plan. Mental improvement for sure. And then… after 15 minutes at 16 seconds I completed my last burpee over the bar taking 2:10 off of my New Years’ time. That is a 4:13 PR since 2014! And a 870th place on the leaderboard. So happy. Seriously couldn’t be happier with that performance. But honestly- that PR came with a lot of hard work and also day-of pushing from these few people—

Max (Kelli’s friend from VA): Thank you so much for judging me during the workout. At first I was hesitant to ask you, considering I had just met you I wasn’t sure if you’d feel comfortable pushing me during the workout. Was I wrong. You were an awesome judge and really helped me stay on track to PR and to keep me on track with my thruster plan. It was great to meet you and it’s sorta bittersweet that 2016 comes to an end with my best friend’s buddy judging me. Hmmm.. full circle(ish).

Chelsea- Although we don’t work out together anymore, us texting every week really got me pumped to text you right away to talk about what worked and what didn’t. I know this year’s workouts were not in your favor for the most part, but for 16.5 talking about strategy really got me to that time I got. Love & miss ya!

Bonnie- CONGRATS ON FINISHING YOUR FIRST OPEN! I am so happy I peer-pressured you to sign up. Every week you pushed yourself so hard and on Friday night after 16.5 I was SO proud of you for competing and it really lit a match under my butt to perform.

Hallie- You will always be that athlete that I strive to beat. You are an amazing athlete and I enjoyed hearing from you after you’d do the Open workout in the 10am class and take all of your tips & tricks. Seriously girl- you should be proud of what you have accomplished in your years of CrossFit. Plenty of us still remember your 24th place finish in 13.3 in the entire region. #BallerStatus.

My chicks- You know who you are. There are a million words to describe our friendship and how it has grown over just a short period of time. You have all made me stronger and truly made CrossFit exciting again. Thank you for cheering me on every week, celebrating with me when I got a top 3 team finish on 16.3, but most importantly thanks for enjoying donuts, coffee, and working out as much as I do.

The 2016 CrossFit Games Open has come to an end, and there is one more person that has been there for me every week. Dan. You are amazing, and this year was special in the fact that instead of you watching me first and then you doing the workout it was the other way around for the first four weeks. I was able to watch you, cheer you on, and then took that excitement and plug it into my workouts. Thank you for being the best fiancé ever and for being an awesome competitors coach as well. It has only taken me three years to be able to allow you to coach me. Love u.